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Friday, September 24, 2010

Outdoor Makeover

I promised more pics of the changes I've been making outdoors, so here's a few more.

We tore out the enormous hedgerow that blocked off all views of the pool area. We moved some of our hostas up to where the removed shrubs had been. Obviously there's a lot more work to be done in the garden. I'm thinking of planting some heucheras and asters. We cleaned and stained the deck before placing the rug and putting up the gorgeous canopy my parents gave us. How great does that look, already? Imagine the yard next year when my new perennials will be blooming.

Our child sized patio set was looking ready to be tossed, but not wanting to buy a new one, I refurbished it instead. This was a set that had been purchased when Whirling Dervish, now 14, was just a wee one. It was filthy, a little mildewy, and one of the seats was torn. The seat fabric was sewn on to the chair frames and the only way to get them off was to cut them off. Here's one of the yucky seat covers.

Imagine a big frayed tear in the seat for the other one.

I ran over to JoAnn Fabrics on Labor Day hoping to luck into some outdoor fabric in their red tag section. And boy did I ever luck out. Not only did I find some fantastic paisley outdoor fabric, but the colors matched the free from my mother-in-law cushions sitting on my patio chairs. There was only 2 3/8 yds of fabric on the bolt, but that was plenty for a couple of child sized chairs and an umbrella. I asked the girl at the cutting counter if there was 1 1/2 yds left on the bolt(of course there was, I checked,) and she offered the rest at remnant pricing. Sneaky, sneaky, I know, but I can't be the only one who automatically subtracts 7/8 yd from short stock to get the rem pricing on the remainder.

Here's a finished chair.

I love this tangerine and turquoise paisley!

And here's the whole patio set finished.

Notice the striped bias tape? Look at all familiar? That's right I deconstructed one of the free cushions. Mother-in-law gave me 6 cushions and I only have 4 that could use them so I made bias tape to trim out the umbrella and chairs. Now everything ties in and is washable since I made sure to make these covers with snap closures.

Final accounting on this project:

Patio set ready to go to the curb - Free

Tangerine & Turquoise Paisley Outdoor Fabric - $6.38﻿

Coordinating Bias Tape - Free

Thread & Snaps(leftover from other projects) - Free

Elbow grease & paint to clean up the table & frames - Free

Total - $6.38

Don't you just love an under $10 makeover? Snuggle Bunny says the chairs are super-comfy. Yay!

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About Me

I'm a wife of a super duper Computer Genius and mom to 2 boys who couldn't be more different - one's a Whirling Dervish of activity, while the other's my little Snuggle Bunny. My baby just started kindergarten and this is my journal of my tries to both start and finish all of the deferred projects from the last several years in between all of the practices, games, and concerts.